1. The most important thing about buying a new
bike is to make sure it fits. The only way you'll know if the bike is right
for you is to size up the bike and make sure that the bike's geometry matches
your body's geometry. Ask questions and do some research.

2. If possible, try to find a shop that will
let you demo the bike on real dirt. Five minutes in a parking lot won't cut
it. You wouldn't buy a car without a real world test drive, and a bike should
be no different.

3. Don't belive the hype. Just because
your favorite rider or best friend rides a certain bike, that doesn't mean
that's the best one for you. Have an open mind and be realistic about your
needs and ability.

Fork Help

I'm looking to eventually upgrade the stock fork on my Talon 29er 2. I feel like the one on the bike is going to break every time I go out riding. I was looking for some help with some of the measurements I'll need to look for. (tapered vs straight, length, diameter etc...). I want to try and find something that will work from eBay, but I'm not really sure where to start. I would also like to keep the price around $150 or less if I could. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!!

Just feel like it's not very... Sturdy. Plus every time i come off the ground it slams wide open because there's no damping on it. I'm going to take my time looking for a deal on CL or eBay, just don't want to be out of commission if it does break.

I have ridden a Talon and like you said, the fork leaves something to be desired. I don't think it is going to break, but there's nothing wrong with wanting a fork that will perform better. The thing I would do is start by taking your old fork off, measuring the length, and seeing if it's tapered.

Then I would buy another fork that has the same dimensions. You can find some very good deals on craigslist or ebay. Just realize that it may need rebuild soon. If that happens it could cost anywhere from 100-300 dollars depending on how bad it is. Most rebuilds are around 120 dollars.

Meh, arguably, $150 won't get you much better. If you go used, you might quickly be facing a $75-$100 rebuild (unless you can do it yourself). Plus, the XC30 is 30mm chassis and comes with rebound, right?

Eb will probably chime in soon, but I disagree with going from the XC30 to a similar fork. Look to spend in the $350-$750 range for a useful upgrade. At that point, you might as well sell the Talon and get something else.

No, YOU don't understand. You're making an ass of yourself for all of eternity.

If you look in the Giant section on this board, as I recall there are a few threads on this very subject. On more thing to consider when swapping out the fork is the front hub. My Talon 1 has a 15mm thru axle hub. You may want to check yours. This is something you need to consider as well.

OP, you're probably right, but it won't be catastrophic. And $150 is way too low for a retail fork that will be an improvement.

You've got a few main choices.
1) Live with the fork you've got. Obviously you don't want to do this or you wouldn't have posted, but it bears mentioning. What fork is it anyway? The bike has a few different models and they reshuffle things every year...

2) Go rigid. Seriously. Rigid forks retail around $75, can be found used or on closeout for a lot less, and track better than a crappy suspension fork. Until you've ridden off-road on a rigid fork, you don't realize how much and also how little a suspension fork does for the ride.

3) Used is certainly an option. I'm on my second used fork on my own bike, actually. However, it can be a huge pain in the butt - unlike a lot of parts of a bike that can be assessed by sight in someone's crappy EBay picture, with a fork, you have to either trust that it's in good shape internally, or pay to have it rebuilt.

4) Save more money. For me, to be an improvement over a rigid fork, a suspension fork must be reasonably stiff, have tunable spring rate, whether that's by changing the spring and with a preload adjustment or by changing air pressure, and a tunable rebound damper. Also, I don't want the thing to break. I decided if I had to buy something at retail, it was Recon Gold or rigid. Looks like for this year, they're diluting the "Recon Gold" name with a TurnKey option. Don't get that one. Do the R or the RL. At retail, this is about a $400 fork. On EBay, looks like about $300, but you never know with EBay. Or don't screw around with intermediate upgrades, and get a Reba, Fox Float, etc. Someone else can come in with the offerings from the other serious brands.

5) Get a new bike. (Seriously.) The elephant in the room is that the Talon 29er 2 is a $650 bike with disposable everything. Granted, I have a $650 bike too and I ended up bolting pretty serviceable everything to it. It did get me to a bike I like a lot, but if I'd had a job when I started racing, it would probably have cost less over the longer term to cut my losses on that bike and buy one of the ones my shop carried. I also kick myself every time I tell one of my friends to take their $600 (or whatever) and buy a used bike. So far, 3/3 friends of mine who've decided to get into MTB with a used bike have done quite well. Dammit!

Give a little thought to what you want to do with this bike long-term. In general, bikes drop a ton of value when one wheels them out of the shop. So it can often make more sense to hold onto an entry-level hardtail as some kind of 'B' bike - spare, loaner, commuter, errand bike, whatever - than to try to get money back out of it. Because that's just depressing. In that case, you may decide it makes sense to make a couple of choice component swaps - like get a rigid fork that you'll be able to live with for the life of the bike, and get some nice tires to ride now, and move to the next bike when you get it. Actually still hard to do for $150, but maybe you already have the tires.

All that aside (and now that I've had enough of my morning coffee to get to a point) I'm pretty confident that you have a 1-1/8" straight gauge steer tube. Your bike is a 29er, it has a 9 mm quick release axle, and the fork has a nominal travel of 100 mm. Axle-crown height is right around 500 mm - if you go rigid, you'll want to land fairly close to this. But don't type in that credit card number until you think about what you really want, and what your expectations are.

Depending on how much you plan to ride and "invest" into your current bike you may consider trading in and jumping into an XTC 29er, lighter frame, better air sprung forks, better components all around.

If your just looking to upgrade your fork i would look into a rockshox Reba or Recon maybe, i would still lean towards upgrading the bike as a whole.

you may actually be able to find a good price on a marzoochi 44 tst, or Micro Ti. The micro will be more expenses but the TST2 was a good shock for my xtc. I would take a guess a used one should be around the $200 mark.

You'll can find a better fork off ebay (i.e. used) but it takes patience and also the knowledge to differentiate between a worn out fork or a new one. Yes, the better ones can be rebuilt but that'll add to the pricetag.

Also, bear in mind that you'll be paying a small premium in price because of all the hype 29'ers are getting these days.

You'll can find a better fork off ebay (i.e. used) but it takes patience and also the knowledge to differentiate between a worn out fork or a new one. Yes, the better ones can be rebuilt but that'll add to the pricetag.

Also, bear in mind that you'll be paying a small premium in price because of all the hype 29'ers are getting these days.

-S

29ers are far past the point of "hype," especially with regards to cross-country riding. Pretty soon, you'll be hard pressed to find a new 26" cross-country bike.

Thanks for the replies/help. I found a Tora 318 Solo for $30 +/-...seems like it's definitely one that will need rebuilding or it's probably garbage at that price. I might buy it just because it's so cheap and take a chance, but more than likely I'll end up getting a new one from Blue Sky...like the one Shibi posted. That seems like a pretty good price for a NEW fork. Thanks!!

I know what you're getting at...and like I originally said, I just want to have something lined up so that if the stock fork does break, or I "outgrow" it, I won't be off the bike for long and I know what I'll be getting.

Okay, you've been warned. What you've got is a properly spec'd fork for that bike. It has a 30mm chassis and a steel steerer tube. It is very strong. Stronger than the 9mm QR you have. Unless I'm missing something, the XC30 has a rebound adjustment that would get rid of that slamming you described. Maybe it's just not tuned to your riding preferences.

The Recon gold chassis is 2mm bigger (which is stiffer, not that you'd be able to notice) and an aluminum steerer tube (which may not be as strong as the steel one you have now)

What you are proposing is an insurance policy that costs 30% of the total value of the bike in order to avoid missing 5-days worth of riding. I'm not familiar with the XC30 breaking all that often. If it does, it is under warranty. The shop you bought the bike from should be able to fix or replace it pretty quickly IF it ever breaks.

My most sincere advice: Start saving now for a better bike. This is a slippery slope and will dump you at the bottom of a money pit. You want to be faster? Spend the $200 on a cyclometer with a heartrate monitor. Your bike is awesome! Your head is the only thing holding you back

No, YOU don't understand. You're making an ass of yourself for all of eternity.

i too was in the same boat as you, but with the talon 1. i just picked up a tower pro from pinkbike for 200. i was going to get one from jenson at 320 but they had just sold out. anyhow as it was mentioned before, its def worth saving for the bike that has most of everything you want. i rolled out of the LBS with my bike in july for 925 and now im up to 2000. bike parts are like crack, but im an addict and dont mind it. i enjoy tearing it down to build it up as much as i love railing the trails. im also getting a rigid for it to build up a "chubby" front end (krampus fork with a 3" knard on a 29" rabbit hole). that will be eventually transfered to my misfit psycle diSSent. thats another thread. so hopefully you have enough info for a decision. man sorry for the rant. i need to stop smoking my lunch

i too was in the same boat as you, but with the talon 1. i just picked up a tower pro from pinkbike for 200. i was going to get one from jenson at 320 but they had just sold out. anyhow as it was mentioned before, its def worth saving for the bike that has most of everything you want. i rolled out of the LBS with my bike in july for 925 and now im up to 2000. bike parts are like crack, but im an addict and dont mind it. i enjoy tearing it down to build it up as much as i love railing the trails. im also getting a rigid for it to build up a "chubby" front end (krampus fork with a 3" knard on a 29" rabbit hole). that will be eventually transfered to my misfit psycle diSSent. thats another thread. so hopefully you have enough info for a decision. man sorry for the rant. i need to stop smoking my lunch

I know what you're getting at...and like I originally said, I just want to have something lined up so that if the stock fork does break, or I "outgrow" it, I won't be off the bike for long and I know what I'll be getting.

The following parts on your bike are going to break or wear out over the next 5 years if you ride decent volume:

Your forks really no more likely than a lot of the other things to go first.

Stocking wear parts isn't a terrible idea. I keep brake pads, chains and cassettes for all my bikes around, and I try to pick up tires for the road bikes. But if you're going to be concerned about the larger, non-wear parts, you really need a whole 'B' bike. Choosing one thing to keep a backup of and then hoping that's what quits first is begging Murphy to come and break your freehub first instead. I do try to buy things that I'd buy on purpose when I'm backed into replacing something, though.

What fork do you have, anyway? wmac keeps talking about the RS XC30, but if I Google the bike it has one of the Suntours. You know these things are different for every model year and level...

You're right Andrew, my mistake - 2013 has XC30 - 2012 has SR XCT fork. Regardless, my point remains: the Giant Talon is a bike designed for "Recreational Trail Riding" and is spec'd accordingly. The XCT is not designed for intermediate to advanced trails. IF it breaks, it is under warranty.

My advice also still stands: Ride that bike and replace parts as they break or get a bike more appropriate for the trails and riding style desired. Or, do whatever you want. It's your money and your hobby. Whatever makes you happy.

No, YOU don't understand. You're making an ass of yourself for all of eternity.